Something Wicked
by Vidua
Summary: When Danny returns from what can only be described as a 'bender', she barely has time to settle back into her hometown before everything changes. With her eyes opened to a dark and disturbing part of the world and an annoyingly bad memory, she must navigate the new politics of the tiny town of Mystic Falls while attempting to keep her loved ones safe. It's harder than she thought.
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

"Hey! You can't smoke that in here."

I stared up at the nurse from my seat on the plastic orange chair in the waiting area of the Gilbert Clinic. I was sure I knew her name, but I couldn't summon it from the back of my mind. Fiona? Felicia?

"Go away." I answered before taking a deep drag of the cigarette.

She pursed her lips, hazel eyes narrowing, "We have patients requiring treatment. If you won't put it out, Miss Gilbert, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."

"What's your name?" I asked her, smoke creeping from my nostrils as I exhaled.

"Flora, Miss Gilbert."

"Flora, you're fired."

She was pressing her lips together so tightly they were barely visible, "Miss Gilbert, I understand this is a distressing time for you, but I am only trying to do my job and you don't have the authority to dismiss me."

I remembered her suddenly. She'd come down from Whitmore to help my dad with something or other. From the looks of the deserted corridors of the building she was the only person my dad had left on duty tonight.

"My name is on the side of the fucking building." I snapped, crushing the cigarette between my fingers, "I _do_ have the authority to dismiss you."

"This is bigger than you." Flora folded her arms, "I have research to complete – research far more important than the whims of a teenage girl."

"How d-"

"Danielle?" I broke off and turned at the sound of my name.

One of my father's live-in patients was limping down the hall, leaning heavily on her IV. She was a lady named Mrs Goldstone suffering from Hodgkin's Lymphoma, and by the time she had been diagnosed she was so far down the rabbit hole of Alzheimer's she didn't have much of an idea what was going on in her body. But if it was a good day, she knew my father and if it was a very good day, she knew me.

"Hello, Mrs Goldstone." I said, a switch turning somewhere in my brain, replacing my shattered nerves and aching chest with icy calm. Behind me, Flora huffed and stomped back down the hall.

"Well haven't you gotten big? Shoulder height, last time I saw you."

"You saw me yesterday, Mrs Goldstone."

"Nonsense, I would remember it." she insisted, taking my arm and leaning heavily on it, "I've been looking for Dr. Gilbert."

"He-" I faltered. What was I supposed to say? That he was dead? She would forget before the hour was out and I didn't have the energy or the patience to keep repeating it. Not like my dad. Not like Elena.

"He needs to _tell_ us when he adds new corridors to the building, Danielle. Look at me, I'm all lost." she went on without noticing my hesitation.

"I'll take you back to your room, Mrs Goldstone." I led her back down the corridor. Her room was at the end, next to the staircase. It was lucky she had turned left instead of right, I doubted her birdlike bones could take a hard fall down them.

"Thank you, Danielle." she gave a wrinkled smile as she hobbled back to her bed, "You're a good girl. Tell the doctor to come see me."

"I will." I breathed, quickly shutting the door.

I braced myself outside her room, staring at the round mark that had appeared on my palm where the smoking end of my cigarette snuffed out against it. A small blister was forming, and a half-formed childhood memory floated to the top of my brain. _Don't pop the bubble,_ my father had told me, _it helps the burn heal._ I had looked up at him through wet eyelashes and allowed him to disinfect it, wincing through the stinging pain. I had shied from it then. Now I embraced it, pressing my thumb against the wound. This was a pain I could see and understand. This was a pain I knew would heal.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up and I glanced around to see Flora lurking at the other end of the hall. I shot her a vicious look and stormed down the stairs, taking them two at a time until I was on the ground floor where the offices were kept. I barrelled out into the night air and took several gasping breaths, sinking down to sit on the cold pavement next to the door.

My father's clinic was a strange mix between a morgue and a clinic on the bottom two floors with the top floors converted into a hospice for terminal patients like Mrs Goldstone. Its close location to the local hospital made it ideal, as patients could be moved and established in the ICU in minutes if necessary. Next door to the morgue was even a small lab. My twin and I used to dare each other to go into that room, touch the surgical bed in the middle and dash out before our father caught us.

My parents were downstairs. It was a tiny morgue, usually only used if one of the inpatients receiving palliative care died. It seemed right, somehow, that they rest here in the heart of the doctor's surgery my father had loved so much. I had seen them briefly. They didn't look like my parents any more. My mother's skin was a warm olive, not mottled white and bloated from being underwater during the three hours it took for the Mystic Falls Police Department to drag them out of the lake. My father's hands were warm and comforting. Not stiff and cold and slimy.

My twin sister was down the street laying prone in a hospital bed. She'd breathed in a lot of water but the doctors said she'd be fine. Somehow, she'd managed to get out the car and drag herself onto the banks of the lake. A miracle. Something to be thankful for, at least.

My hands were shaking as I lit another cigarette. The smoke irritated my smarting eyes, and when I rubbed them, my palms came away wet. My aunt, Jenna was here somewhere. At the hospital? I could see the harsh white lights at the end of the street. Had I walked here? I must have, but the memory was hazy. Somewhere nearby a merry tune played over and over again. I scowled in annoyance, glaring round at the deserted street before I realised the sound was coming from the pocket of my old hoodie. I pulled out my cell phone, the screen flashing with the name _Caroline._ Of course, she'd know by now. Her Mom had been the one to break the news to us.

One of the streetlights was flickering, a pool of light illuminating a pale blue car with a dark-haired guy sat in the front. He wasn't looking at me, but I got the feeling he was watching all the same. I'd never seen him before which definitely counted for something since I didn't think the population of Mystic Falls was above a thousand. My phone lit up again, a text from Jenna this time:

 _Elena's awake and asking for you_.

I didn't know what they thought I could do to calm her. I was her older twin, sure, but we were like chalk and cheese. It was more likely I'd hug her, and she'd smell the smoke clinging to my clothes before flipping out. I gave a deep sigh, pulled myself up and stomped down the street to the hospital.

Mine and Elena's shared car was parked sloppily in the ambulance bay outside the giant double doors. Dick move, I'll admit that, but not even Jenna had griped over it given the circumstances. I patted down my pockets, taking a quick inventory of what I had on me. A pack of Marlboro's, car keys, a lighter and shoved inside my bra, a purse containing a credit card, a debit card, some loose change and my fake ID. I deliberated a moment, glancing towards the hospital before pulling my car keys out and hopping into the car. Let someone else explain to Elena our parents were dead. I was getting as far away from Mystic Falls as possible.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

It had been almost four months to the day by the time I returned to Mystic Falls. I drove round the side of the house to the sheltered driveway that led into the backyard and saw that Elena had acquired a car to replace the one I had taken. An oversized black SUV sat next to Jenna's Mini Cooper and as I parked on the street, neatly blocking both cars in, I couldn't help but wonder how much of her trust fund she had blown on the vehicle as well as feel a little envious. The only cars I'd ever driven weren't new – only new to me. Even the Mercedes I was currently in possession of had been our dad's car before he had given it to Elena and I.

I got out of the car, opening the back gate and entering the yard. It was jarringly unkempt. When Mom was alive, she would keep every shrub, every tulip pruned to perfection. Now the grass had grown long enough to come halfway up my shin. The hedges had obviously been trimmed at some point, but now they were becoming overgrown again. Mom's prized flower beds were riddled with weeds.

I climbed the stairs onto the porch, which seemed to be the only neat part of the back yard. Elena's journal lay on the swing seat next to an uncapped fountain pen. I picked them up and nudged open the back door with my foot.

Jenna was in the kitchen, brewing some coffee. Her back was to me and she didn't notice my presence until I awkwardly coughed. She jumped and gave a small shriek, whipping around to stare at me.

"Danny?" she gasped, one hand over her heart as she tried to catch her breath.

"Hey." I dropped Elena's journal and her pen on the counter.

She managed to recollect herself enough to ask, "Where have you been?"

"Around. I think. It's all a little blurry. Pennsylvania, for a while, and then... Salem? Salem, I think." I gave a jerky nod.

"Salem?" Jenna repeated, "Danny, we've been so worried about you."

"I know," I bit my lip, "I got the messages. I ignored them. I'm the worst. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." she pulled me into a hug, relief overcoming anger, "You're home now, and you're safe."

I gripped her tightly, "I'm so sorry, Jenna." I repeated.

"Hush." she rubbed my back before releasing me, "You should go see Elena. She's in her room. Jeremy should be back soon, too."

"Think she's gonna hit me?" I asked, managing a small smile.

"Probably." Jenna flashed me a bright grin, "How about I order pizza? That'll soften the blow, right?"

"Right." I gave a quick nod and scooped up her journal before hurrying upstairs.

I rapped sharply on Elena's bedroom door, waited for her yell of assent and took a deep breath before pushing it open.

"You left this outside." I said nervously.

She dropped the book she was holding and it hit the oak floors with a dull thud.

"Danielle Renata Gilbert – _Where have you been?_ " she exclaimed, storming over with her hands on her hips.

"Do you really want an answ-"

"We needed you!" she choked. She wasn't crying yet, but her eyes were overbright, "We had to organise the funeral all on our own! We had to do it on our own!"

"Jenna's ordering pizza!"

"What?!" she rubbed furiously at her eyes, "I don't – I _missed you_!" she flung her arms around me.

I hugged her back with equal ferocity. Elena could be conceited and stubborn and judgemental, but she was my twin sister and I knew her better than I knew myself. I had missed her, too.

"I missed you, too." I pulled away, and pecked her on the cheek, "What happened after I left?"

She bit down on her lower lip and sank down onto her bed, pulling me to sit next to her, "I was in the hospital for a few days – nothing serious. Minor whiplash, oxygen deprivation. We all knew I'd heal in time, but everyone was so worried about you. You weren't answering your phone, no one had seen you in days. Sheriff Forbes filed a missing persons report. You were on the news."

"Will the fame change me, do you think?"

She gave a small, reluctant smile before continuing, "The funeral was a week later. It was beautiful, Danny. Everyone spoke about how they were such good people, and how much they'd be missed."

"And how about Jer?"

"I… Danny, he hasn't coped well. He's been hanging around with the junkies, and I think he's been doing pot. He hardly comes out of his room, or even _speaks_ to us. Maybe he'll be different now you're home. You always got the most out of him."

"I'll talk to him, if you want me to. Though I don't know if he'll even want to see me."

"Of course, he will. He's missed you, too."

"Jer's a lot less forgiving than you. And I ran away, remember?"

"Guess we're about to find out." Elena said to the sound of the front door opening.

"Danny? Jenna is Danny here? Her car-" he broke off and thundered up the stairs, by the sounds of it taking them two at a time.

He stopped dead in the hall, seeing me sat on Elena's bed. Then, without another word, he walked to his room and slammed the door.

Several hours later, I still couldn't get Jeremy to speak to me. All my attempts at knocking on his door were met by blaring rock music that somehow translated to silence. I left pizza outside his door that sat there cold until an apologetic Jenna took it away.

"Leave him to stew for a while." Elena advised, "I've called Care and Bonnie – we're meeting at the Grill in fifteen."

I threw one last look at the door and gave a short nod, "Alright. Your car or mine?"

"Mine. I only got it last month, I'm still breaking it in."

I ran into my room to pick up a jacket. It took my breath away for a moment - everything was just as I had left it the night my parents had died, right down to my unmade bed sheets. With a pang in my chest, I wondered if they had left it like that on purpose - not knowing if I'd ever be back. I ran my finger over the old piano in the corner of the room - it had been a tenth birthday gift, after years of lessons.

My bedroom wasn't as big as Elena's but it had an en-suite while she had to share with Jeremy. The walls were painted white with a border of hand-painted flowers that my Mom had laboured over for days. I had plastered posters from floor to ceiling in middle school and every now and then there was a flash of pale green - the previous color of the room - where the tacks I'd used had pulled the paint off.

The drive to the Grill was one I'd taken millions of times before, first as an infant and last the day before my parent's death. The Grill was the largest restaurant in Mystic Falls and one of only three besides. It was a popular meeting place for people of all ages and provided most of the weekend jobs kids in my year held.

It was late summer, and the place was full of people enjoying their final days of summer break. It seemed there was a familiar face in every cluster of people and I could see dozens of questions that I didn't want to answer on their faces so I was glad when Elena led me towards a quiet booth near the back of the room.

"Danny!" Caroline jumped up and wrapped her arms around me, "Oh my god, I've missed you so much, how could you leave me all summer? What about our plans? Are you feeling better? What about-"

"Enough, Care!" Bonnie laughed, "Let her breathe."

I slid onto a seat and grabbed hold of a menu. They were the same ones they'd always been, red leather with gilt edges and gold lettering; "MYSTIC GRILL".

"I'm assuming they still do the cheesy fries?" I said, trying to keep my voice light, "I can't remember the last time they changed the menu."

"'01." Bonnie replied smoothly, "There was local outrage. It was front page news in 'The Mystic Falls Daily' _and_ 'The Mystic Falls Courier'."

Caroline buried her face in her hands, "Remind me again, _why_ do you know this?"

"Grams gets drunk and rages about it sometimes. I guess she really misses marmite toast sandwiches."

"Why was that on the menu in the first place?" Elena wrinkled her nose.

"Mystic Falls in the '90's was a weird place." Caroline shrugged, "Everyone wore denim-on-denim and back-combed their hair."

I smiled and leant back in my seat. I had missed this. Carefree conversation with friends about nothing. Smiling. As we ordered food it was as if nothing had changed in our lives. As if when I got home my Mom would be carefully tending her garden and my Dad would be badgering Jeremy about his homework.

But it wasn't real. Everything had changed. Mom and Dad were in the Gilbert family grave plot along with dozens of our ancestors. It felt as if I had aged a decade over the summer, like the heat had burned me up until I was old and wrinkled and struggling on aching joints.

I caught sight of myself in the reflection on a napkin dispenser. My seventeen-year-old face blinked at me.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

When school started three days later I picked up Caroline and Elena caught a ride with Bonnie. Somehow, ever since we were young that was the way our foursome paired off. Danny and Caroline. Elena and Bonnie. Truth be told, sometimes Caroline seemed more my sister than Elena.

During the drive, Caroline seemed to decide it was her sacred duty to bring me up to speed with all the gossip I'd missed out on.

"...Well, Matt and Elena broke up and he's been pining over her all summer. Mary Baker's been fighting with Vicki Donovan – oh! Tyler's shacking up with Vicki. It's probably best you know before we get there because they're pretty in-your-face." She glanced at me sympathetically, "We can egg his house again, if you want?"

"I'm over it," I shrugged.

I had dated Tyler for six months the year before my parent's death. As far as relationships go, it was a pretty dysfunctional one. He'd only wanted a girl from a respectable family who he could parade around whenever he felt like it, and for a time I was a-okay with the parading. But after a few months I was bored of it and I wanted a relationship wherein I was a respected and valued participant. So we broke up. Didn't speak for another four months. Didn't even make eye contact.

"Really? Because last spring when he took Kelly Beach to the 30's decade dance, we egged his house. Also, wasn't it you who started the rumour she had crabs?"

"They were assholes the whole time, Care! They deserved it."

I turned sharply into the school parking lot and she hissed, "Watch it! Do you know how long it took me to do my hair?"

"Probably some ridiculous amount of time."

"Alright, Miss "I roll out of bed and go to school in the same bun I slept in" - some of us put in effort!"

I grinned at her, threading my arm through hers, "Um, sometimes I spray some dry shampoo. That's enough effort for me."

Caroline gave a little groan of horror as we entered the school.

People were looking, I could tell. In a town as small as Mystic Falls news got around fast. Every single one of these people knew about the death of my parents and my subsequent abscondence. Every single one of them would notice my reappearance. It made my skin crawl and I clung to Caroline's arm, glaring back at anyone who dared to openly stare. By now I was an expert on the politics of high school and angry was always better than scared.

"Schedules, schedules." Caroline muttered, pulling me towards a large table manned by three teachers who were handing them out. She snatched up both of ours, tugging me to the side to compare them.

"We've got all our classes together and the same lunch period." She said, pleased, "I had my mom speak to the school board. Told 'em you needed the extra support after such a tragic event."

"Nice." I nodded.

"Mm. Anyway, this year – who is that?"

"Who?" I turned and immediately knew who she was talking about. At the end of the hall a guy was moving away from the attendance office. His face was hidden behind a pair of large sunglasses, but he had an angular jaw and his lips pressed together in focus. He was obviously new to Mystic Falls – in a town this small, a face that wasn't at least familiar was a rarity.

"He looks like an asshole." I decided, "Who wears sunglasses inside?"

"Ugh. Danielle Gilbert, I did not raise you to be like this! Assholes are hot. Hey – he's heading towards the history department – we've got Tanner first. Think he does too?"

"For his sake, I hope not." I said wryly as we followed the stranger down the hall.

Caroline was practically jumping for joy as the stranger entered Tanner's room. I just felt kind of bad. Anyone who had Tanner for their first lesson at Mystic Falls High was going to get a very bad impression of the school.

"C'mon, lets get into position." She grinned, pulling towards the room with her.

"Care, we're nearly fifteen minutes early!" I complained.

"Hi!" She exclaimed, locking eyes with the stranger as we entered the room and completely ignoring me, "I'm Caroline Forbes, and this is Danny. We're on the Student Welcome Committee."

Ah, yes. The committee I had agreed to join only because we had a new student about once every ten years.

"I'm Stefan. Stefan Salvatore." He nodded at us.

"Salvatore?" Caroline said immediately "As in Zach?"

"Zach's my uncle. I'm staying with him up at the boarding house."

"So, you're a founding family. I don't think I've seen you before?" I questioned dutifully.

"I haven't lived in Mystic Falls since I was a baby. Military family. We moved around a lot."

"Right. Well, welcome to Mystic Falls High. If you need anything we'd be more than happy to help." Caroline flashed a smile as Tanner entered the room and she dragged me to a pair of seats a few spaces behind the one Stefan had chosen. I knew Caroline well enough to know it was so she could stare without fear of being caught.

Gradually, the rest of the class – including Elena and Bonnie – filed in and Tanner began to drone in his dull voice. I allowed myself to zone out, toying with my locket. It was made of gold and was an oddly uneven triangle shape. It had a dark blue stone in the shape of a leaf set into it and was engraved with leaves and vines. The chain was long enough that I could tuck it under my shirt.

I tried to open it, but the lock was jammed. I wiggled it, slipping my fingernails into the crack in an attempt to prise it open but it remained stubbornly closed.

"Miss Gilbert, attention!" Tanner snapped.

I jumped and tucked the locket back into my shirt, looking up at Tanner but not really seeing him.

After school, I went home with Caroline. We sat in her room, munching on candy and watching crappy reality TV. If I looked out of Caroline's window, I could see my house down the street. When we were kids, Care and I would sneak into each other's rooms all the time. I would climb the tree outside her window and she would scale the drainpipe outside mine. We'd dash across the road, run down the dark street and sneak into each other's yards unseen by creeping through two fence panels, loosened by us for this purpose. Care had outgrown this method of travel in eighth grade, as had Elena and Bonnie. But I'd never caught up to their heights, remaining a scrawny five-foot-two, and I could still squeeze through if I tried.

"So, did you meet any hot guys?" Caroline asked, turning away from _Teen Mom_ to wiggle her eyebrows at me.

"I don't know." I shrugged, "I don't think that was really my focus."

"Oh, c'mon!" Caroline groaned in frustration and threw a pillow at me, "You were alone for months and your telling me there wasn't one hook-up?"

"I know." I grinned, "I'm sorry. Tell me about Stefan, I bet you've been stalking your way into his heart."

"Well," Caroline said smugly, "Aside form what he told us earlier – he's a Gemini, his favourite colour is blue, his parents are dead and he has siblings he doesn't talk to."

"Gemini's are bad news, everybody knows it."

"Yeah, but he's hot so I'll take a little bad news. Hey, did you know Jeremy's been hooking up with Vicki Donovan?"

"What?" I sat bolt upright, "Little Jer-bear lost his V card? To an actual lady?"

"Well, to Vicki Donovan, so maybe not a lady. A female, at least. But yeah, apparently, they've been hooking up all summer, I heard them talking about it earlier."

"Isn't she with Tyler?"

Caroline gave a smug smile, "Yeah. That's the interesting part."

"And he has no idea?"

"None." She sang, "I love the first day at school, all of the dirty summer gossip comes out. Though I've got to say, Tyler had it coming. I mean, you have a much better ass. He's crazy.

"Right?" I agreed, "Hey, please don't tell anyone. Jeremy doesn't need it, you know."

She nodded, "Of course I won't."

"Right." I got to my feet, "I'm going to go. See you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you." I replied, ducking out her door.

When I got home, Jeremy was sat in the kitchen, frowning over a sandwich. When he saw me, he immediately got up to leave the room.

"Jer, wait."

He stopped, turning to look at me expectantly and suddenly I had no idea what to say. All I knew was that every time I saw him, my chest felt hollow. Achey. I couldn't remember the last time Jeremy had been mad at me.

"I-" I swallowed, "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry."

He stood there for a moment in silence before speaking, "You know how hard it was after they died? You know how shitty we all felt? If you were here you would have made it better, but you decided to leave us alone instead." He broke off for a moment, breathing hard, "Elena was asking for you as soon as she woke up. We waited for hours, Danny, but you never came. You didn't answer any calls or texts – we had to report you missing. We thought you were dead, too. And there were some things, y'know that I just really needed an older sister for. And you weren't there."

"You had Elena." My words came out all breathless and whispery. I couldn't seem to such enough air into my lungs. I thought I had left him with the best person – Elena was a billion times better than me when it came to emotion.

"Elena's… Elena. She's my sister and I love her but she… she doesn't get it."

"I'm back now," I tried to soothe him, "And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I promise. And I'm here if you need to talk to someone."

"Right." he turned away, stomping to the doorway. But he paused at the threshold - "Goodnight."

"Night, Jeremy." a relieved smile formed on my lips.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

The back to school party was the next evening. I hadn't felt much up to it, but an insistent Caroline had convinced me to go, and she arrived to pick me up just as it was starting to get dark.

"I'm just gonna go for it," she told me, speeding down the street, despite the fact that her mother was sheriff, "no hesitation."

I nodded, "You should."

"And my dad wants me to visit him, Steven and Nancy." Caroline went on, "Why can't he see that Nancy hates me? And it's not like I really like her, either."

"She didn't seem so bad when I met her." I said, thinking of Caroline's red-haired step sister.

"She's the devil in disguise," Caroline pulled off the road and into the woods, "and if I have to spend more than ten minutes in that smirking slut's presence I swear, I will strangle her."

"Jesus, Caroline. Tell me what you really think."

She flashed me a grin, her face illuminated by orange light from the bonfire we could see through the trees as we approached the falls. She drove into the small asphalt car lot, slid the car expertly into an empty space and hopped out, taking my arm as we walked down the stairs that led to where the annual bonfire was held. Several large wooden gazebos strung with fairy lights were dotted around, and hundreds of students were milling under them and by the fire, talking and laughing amongst themselves.

"Right," said Caroline, "I need alcohol and I need Stefan. In that order."

"Alcohol's over there." I pointed at a keg, "Stefan, you'll have to find on your own."

Caroline strode over to the keg, filling two cups with a questionable looking liquid.

"Here."

I took the cup and had a sip, realising that the beer had almost certainly been laced with tequila or whiskey, if the nearly familiar burn in my throat was anything to go by.

"Right. Stefan." Caroline's wide blue eyes scanned the crowd.

"There!" I said as Stefan walked down the same wooden stairs we had moments before.

"Wish me luck!" Caroline bounded after him.

I spotted Jeremy sat next to a cooler and made my way over, "Stop staring." I advised, following his gaze towards Tyler and Vicki, who were looking very loved up, "It's weird."

"He treats her like crap." He said hotly.

"Well, she lets him. Give her a while and she'll come 'round." I advised.

"Did he treat you like that?"

"No. He treated me like… I don't know, a fancy tie or a gold watch or something. Y'know, to be bought out and showed off every now and then, and not thought about the rest of the time. But he was nice enough when he wanted to be. I guess he is to Vicki, as well, though I don't think he'll be flashing _her_ at parties."

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Jeremy demanded, immediately taking offence.

"Look, Jer," I said placatingly, raising my hands in surrender, "she's nice enough but do you really see Carol Lockwood wanting her son to be with Vicki? With her reputation and family? Let's face it, Mrs. Lockwood is a bit classist."

"I guess." He admitted reluctantly, temper still colouring his tone.

I spotted Caroline stood alone, gulping down a cup of beer and got to my feet, "Try to have fun Jer – I'll see you later."

After seventeen years, I was more than adept at reading the emotions of my best friend- and these ones weren't good.

"What happened?" I asked, threading my arm through hers.

"He shot me down." she said bitterly, "I bet Elena's got to him."

"He was at our house last night." I admitted, "Returning her journal."

"God!" Caroline swallowed the rest of her spiked drink, "Come on, I need a refill."

Caroline's gaze fell on Elena, who was stood by the bonfire. Stefan was standing in front of her, and she was beaming up at him.

"Come on, Care." I said, pulling her away, "Let's get drunk."

Caroline and I made our way to the keg. Caroline drank one cup and then another.

"Y'know what? I don't even care." She said, her jaw set, "I could have any guy I want and Stefan Salvatore is a pathetic looser and-" A scream pierced through the air.

The entire area around us fell silent.

"SOMEBODY HELP!"

"Fuck, that's Elena." I headed in the direction of the voice.

She and Jeremy were stumbling out of the woods. Jeremy was carrying an unconscious Vicki Donovan. There was blood pumping in a steady flow from her neck and her face was gray and slack.

"Oh my god." Whispered Caroline.

A crowd formed though no-one seemed to know what to do or want to touch Vicki. We were a crowd of drunk minors, no-one wanted to call the cops.

"Vicki?" Matt pushed through the crowd, "Vicki, what the hell?"

"What happened to her?" Tyler appeared.

"Somebody call an ambulance," Matt yelled, looking wildly at the onlookers, going to his sister.

"What happened?" I asked Jeremy.

"We found her like this in the woods." Said Jeremy, laying her on the ground.

"It's her neck, something bit her!" Elena's voice was panicked and her hands fluttered anxiously over the wound, "she's loosing a lot of blood!"

"Okay." I said calmly. Panicking wasn't going to help, "Caroline, call an ambulance."

She did as I asked and began muttering away to an operator. I needed something to cover the wound with but all I had on me was my jacket. With an internal groan, I pulled it off and held it against Vicki's neck. Hopefully, it would help the blood congeal.

"Vicki. Vicki, come on." Matt hovered over his big sister, "Open your eyes, look at me."

I was unsure of what else to do, but everyone seemed to be waiting for me to act. I seemed to have accidentally taken charge of the situation. The next thing that occurred to me was to roll her into recovery position. It was a lot harder to do with an unconscious person in real life than a giggling Caroline on the first aid course my dad had held a couple of years ago.

"Matt, help me roll her." I murmured, frowning in concentration.

"Wait!" Caroline exclaimed, hurrying forward and placing someone's coat on the ground where we were going to roll her, "She'll loose more heat to the ground than the air, remember?"

So she _had_ been listening. Despite everything going on, I was genuinely surprised. Slowly, we got Vicki into position and backed away. I looked around for the ambulance and realised most of the party-goers had vanished, and someone had taken the kegs with them.

The ambulance appeared a few moments later, and Vicki was loaded on, Matt with her. I was shivering in just a strappy dress, but I managed a cheery smile and a half-wave as they drove off.

"Are you cold? Here." Caroline gave me her jacket.

"Thanks." I answered, huddling into it, "I'm gonna go see if Jeremy and Elena are okay, but do you want to grab some coffee after?"

"Yeah. I need to sober up before I go home. I'll go wait in my car." She pecked my cheek and dashed off in typical Caroline fashion, leaving me to search for my siblings.

Jeremy was stood a few metres away, under one of the gazebos with a beer. His jaw was clenched and his hands were shaking as he sniffed slightly.

"Finish that before you get arrested," I told him, nodding to the beer and the gathering cops.

He gulped down the last few mouthfuls and tossed the bottle into a bush.

"She'll be okay, y'know." I reassured him, "It wasn't that deep. Neck wounds look a lot scarier than they are."

"I know." He nodded, staring straight ahead.

"C'mon," I sighed, threading my arm through his, "Let's go find Elena."

We found her near where the ambulance had parked. She was staring at the tire marks gored into the muddy forest floor. Her eyes flicked up as we approached.

"See those people over there in uniforms?" she said, surprisingly gently, "Last time I checked, they're the police." She took a deep, shaky breath, and draped her around us "People are gonna stop giving you breaks, Jer. They just don't care anymore. They don't remember our parents are dead because they've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should, too."

I winced. Elena might have been the Golden Girl of Mystic Falls High, capable of curing cancer with a gentle word, but somehow she always said the wrong thing to our brother.

"I've seen you in the cemetery, writing in your diary," Jeremy turned to look at her, his voice shaking, "Is that – is that supposed to be you moving on?"

"Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted this." Elena said very quietly, plucking the bottle out of his hands and tossing it to the ground.

"Mom and dad aren't here." I told her flatly, "You guys go home. Care and I are going for coffee, I'll see you later."

Caroline was sat in the passenger seat, a lifetime as a Sheriff's daughter making her aware she had drunk too much to drive. I got into the driver's side and started the car.

"Well, that was a downer." Caroline sighed, "I had such high hopes on getting blackout drunk, too."

"There's always next year." I reminded her, pulling out of the woods and onto the road into town.

"Our senior year." Care smiled, "It'll be awesome. And then we'll go to college together, and after that we'll travel the world."

"You bet." I grinned. It was a plan set in stone since second grade.

"How are you doing?" I asked gently, "With the Stefan thing?"

She thought for a moment.

"Fine. I guess. Maybe I'll meet my future husband while we're travelling. It'll be so romantic."

I smiled, slowing down as we reached town. Most of the shops were shuttered and dark, but the Grill was still open, golden light and faint music flowing through the open door.

Three coffees later, my eyes were lolling, and Caroline had her head in her hands.

"You sober yet?" I mumbled.

She took a deep breath, and thought for a second, "No."

"Wanna just stay at mine?"

"Yes." She was silent for a second before blurting, "Why didn't he go for me? How come the guys that I want never want me?"

"Sorry, I have strict instructions not to interact with crashing Caroline."

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And… Elena always says the right thing. She doesn't even try and he just picks her! And she's always the one that everyone picks for everything-"

"We literally shared a womb so I kinda have to." I pointed out but was ignored.

"-I try so hard and I'm never the one."

"I know you view it as a competition, Care." I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands, "But it's not."

"Yeah, it is." She said quietly.

I sighed, grabbing one of her hands and kissing it, "You'll be okay. I'm gonna get the bill and call your mom, okay?"

She nodded, sniffling miserably. I left twenty dollars on the table and went into the bathroom to call Mrs. Forbes.

"Danny?" she answered immediately.

"Hey, Sheriff Forbes." I said cheerfully, "Caroline kinda fell asleep at my place, is it okay if she stays over?"

She sighed, not buying a word I said but clearly too tired to kick up much of a fuss, "Sure. Look after her for me, Danny."

"You know I will." I reassured her, "Goodnight."

Caroline was waiting outside the bathroom.

"Danny! Danny, quick!" she grabbed my hand and yanked me back into the main eating area.

"He's gone." She said disbelievingly.

"Who's gone?"

"The guy. The hot guy who smiled at me."

I shrugged, "It's Mystic Falls. You'll see him again."

We got back to my house and went straight to my room, getting ready for bed.

"Hey, I knew you were lying about not meeting a guy." Caroline said, eyeing my choice of sleep attire.

It was a random t-shirt I had pulled from my still-unpacked suitcase and slipped over my head to wear for bed. It hung to my knees, and I was almost drowning in fabric. It smelt strangely familiar – something sharp like bleach with alcohol and metal. I felt a pang of longing in my chest as the scent hit me and I gripped the shirt hard. Care approached and flicked the collar up to look at the tag. She gave a long, low whistle.

"Wow. You met a _rich_ guy."

"I don't remember." I said quietly, fighting to keep my eyes open.

She yawned, "Well, I'm beat." she crawled into bed, me following her, "Night, Danny."

"Night, Care." I said, snuggling under my thick blankets.

I switched my lamp off and closed my eyes. Bleach, alcohol, metal. The scent was soothing.

* * *

 **a/n: Hey guys, thanks for reading chapter three!**

 **Thank you to 0001234 and Hope10 ****for the reviews, i love reading them.**

 **Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Why are you always signing me up for shit I don't want to do?" I asked Caroline, flicking my stack of flyers.

She had assigned Elena, Bonnie and I the mind numbingly boring task of folding up all the flyers for the next day's night of the comet event in the town square. It was a pretty big thing – apparently the comet only came around once every hundred and forty-five years and Mystic Falls would have the best view in the US. People had come flooding into town to witness the once in a lifetime event and the town council had decided to capitalise on it. The brightly coloured flyers advertised face painting, food stalls, live music and viewing stations for astronomy fanatics to view the comet through a telescope.

"Think of how good it'll look to potential colleges." Caroline said brightly, taking a sip of her milkshake. She was long finished folding her flyers and knowing Caroline had probably turned it into a one-sided race.

"Passing out flyers for a crappy small-town gathering?"

"Giving up your personal time to help arrange town events! Showing a strong presence in the community and displaying excellent teamworking skills!"

"Jesus Christ how do you make it sound like an achievement?"

"Don't question it, just be happy that I'm around to help with your applications."

"Think you can write mine, too?" Bonnie asked drily, pulling my flyers towards herself.

"Of course," Caroline winked, "your new psychic powers are giving me excellent content."

"You know, its actually really interesting." Elena said thoughtfully, "It only comes around once every hundred and forty-five years. After everything bad that's happened, maybe it'll bring a little luck."

"Well," Bonnie started, "I was talking to Grams, and s _he_ said the comet-"

"Will turn us all into toads?" I offered, "or maybe kill all first-born children? C'mon, if it came out of your Grams' mouth, it's got to be something fucking gloomy."

"She said it was a sign of impending doom." Bonnie confirmed, "The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death."

"Yeah, that's a side effect of a civil war."

"Danny, do you want to hear or not?" she said impatiently, "Grams said so much blood and carnage created a bed of paranormal activity."

Caroline carefully folded a flyer, "Yeah and then you poured Grams another shot, and she told you about the aliens." Caroline turned to Elena eagerly, "So then what?"

Of course, it was the only thing Caroline had on her mind. Shortly before we had seated ourselves at the small outdoor table, Elena had revealed that Stefan Salvatore had spent the night at our house. Caroline nearly went into cardiac arrest, first with excitement, and then disappointment when Elena had told us all they had done was talk.

"So then nothing." Elena looked down, trying not to grin as she though about it.

"You and Stefan talked all night?" Caroline confirmed disbelievingly, "There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy-feely of any kind?"

"Nope. We didn't go there." Elena insisted.

"Not even a handshake?" Caroline pressed.

"Or a hug?" I added. I knew my sister. She was a sucker for hugs.

I saw the glimmer in her eyes as she looked down again and pounced on it like a dog with a bone.

"Hah! There was a hug!"

"When I was talking about mom and dad!" Elena defended, "It wasn't like that!"

"Could not give a single fuck about context." Caroline said flatly, "what did his abs feel like?"

"I'm not gonna answer that, Caroline." Elena said stubbornly.

"Okay, I've had enough!" Caroline smacked both of her hands down on the table, "Between you two Gilberts, there is a serious blockage. We are your friends, you are supposed to share the smut."

"Danny has smut?" Bonnie raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I have smut?" I repeated.

"Yeah, with your bender dude!" Caroline folded her arms, "I'm very offended you won't tell me what happened!"

"Nothing happened!" I exclaimed exasperatedly, "Or – nothing I remember, at least."

"Alright," Caroline leaned forward and took our hands, "I have a quick lesson for you. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy – sex!"

"Profound." Elena rolled her eyes.

The table was quiet for a moment before Elena threw down her flyers and got to her feet, grabbing her jacket.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked in confusion.

"Caroline's right." Elena announced, "It _is_ easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying I was going to do."

"You started the day saying you were gonna fuck Stefan?" I wiggled my eyebrows at her.

"Shush!" Caroline jabbed me in the arm, "It's a decent aim."

Elena strode towards her car, and Bonnie hopped seats to sit next to me.

"So what's with the bender dude?" She asked.

"There was no bender dude!" I insisted.

"Please," Caroline scoffed, "you had a guys t-shirt in your bag! You come back with a really expensive-looking piece of jewellery and you didn't even _try_ with Stefan. There was a bender dude!"

My hand closed around my locket. I hadn't realised anyone had noticed it.

"I don't know, Care. I was pretty out of it, I can't remember anything." I said coolly, tucking the necklace back under my shirt.

Caroline put her head in her hands and released a muffled screech of frustration.

"Why don't _you_ go and sleep with someone?" I suggested, "And then you'll have something to talk about."

"Don't you think I'm _trying?_ " She exclaimed, "I can't find that guy from the other night _anywhere._ "

"Why didn't you just talk to him?" I asked, stealing a sip of her milkshake.

"I don't know. God, what if he was just passing through and I never see him again?"

"I'm sure you'll survive." I said wryly, "I'm gonna head home and wait for Elena."

"You text me and tell me _everything_." Caroline's head bolted up, "No, you _call_ me and let me listen!"

"Okay, okay!" I grinned raising my hands, "I'll see you later!"

When I arrived home, Jenna was sat at the table with her head in her hands and a steaming mug of coffee in front of her.

"You alright?" I asked, slinging my bag down onto the floor.

"I had Jeremy's parent-teacher conference today." She groaned, "And your asshole history teacher shamed me good."

"Tanner's a dick." I nodded. "What did he say?"

"Jeremy's skipped six of his classes already. Also, that he's on drugs. Oh, and you best buckle yourself in for quite a ride, because he suggested I get some other relatives in the picture. You know who that'll mean."

"Jenna!" I gasped, "If you move in Uncle John I will _never_ forgive you!"

"Look." She leant forward, meeting my eyes, "You and Jeremy are close. Do me a favour and try to get through to him, and I won't have to get John involved."

I nodded slowly. How the hell was I going to do that? Sure, Jeremy and I were close but… not really that _kind_ of close as of late. Gone were the days of him being my baby brother, hanging off my every word. The only person he seemed to listen to these days was Vicki Donovan.

 _Vicki Donovan!_ The idea struck like a bolt of lightning. He wouldn't listen to his teachers or us, but maybe if Vicki gave him a nudge in the right direction, he would listen. I grabbed my bag and dashed up to my room, pulling my new cell phone out as I closed the door.

Matt picked up on the first ring.

"Danny?" he asked, confusion clouding his voice.

"Matt, hey! I just thought I'd call and see how Vicki's doing?"

"Oh. Well, she's okay. A lot better. Doctors say she'll be released soon."

"That's good! I'm glad."

"Thanks." He paused a second, and there was faint muttering in the background, "I need to go, she's awake and harassing me to go get her a donut."

I gave a quick laugh, "Alright. Tell her 'hi'. See you at school."

I threw the phone down onto my bed. How soon should I wait before talking to Vicki? She had just been mauled, after all. There must be other things on her mind.

Eventually, I decided I wouldn't go out of my way to talk to her. I would just wait until I next saw her at school or the grill or whatever. The more I thought about it, the less confident I was she'd even help. When was the last time Vicki went a week without skipping a class? Or a day without some kind of pill? I had overheard my parents talking once, about how she would pretend to be ill or in pain so my dad would prescribe her some meds. Just like her mom, they'd said.

"Danny?" Elena gave my door a gentle tap.

"Yeah, come in!" I called, and she closed the door again behind her, "That was quick."

"I didn't sleep with him." She told me exasperatedly, flopping down on my bed, "I barely spoke to him."

"Uh-oh. What happened?"

"His older brother Damon was there."

"Stefan has a brother?"

"Apparently! Damon told me Stefan's got raging ex-girlfriend issues, and he's on the rebound."

"Shit. That sucks."

"And when Stefan came down, he didn't even look at me. Practically kicked me out."

"Jeez. What are you going to do?"

She sighed, stretching out on the bed, "I don't know, Danny. I'll just wait and see what happens, I guess. I mean, we never exchanged numbers or anything. We just talked."

I shrugged and lay down next to her. Honestly, Stefan Salvatore was starting to seem like an asshole. First Caroline, now Elena? Would Bonnie be next? Was he going to work his way around all of my friends and be a dick to them?

"I think I've got a plan for Jeremy." I told her.

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna get Vicki to talk to him,"

I could feel the disapproval radiating off of her, "Danny are you sure that's a great idea? I mean, she's the one enabling most of these behaviours."

"Yeah. He doesn't care what we think, but he cares about her. She started it but she might be exactly what we need to end it."

Elena stared disapprovingly at me, "I hope you're right."

"Me too," I answered, "Because if I'm not it looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of Uncle John. When he moves in and becomes one of our guardians."

"What?" she sat bolt upright, "Jenna said that?"

"Apparently Tanner put her through the ringer earlier. Said we needed another relative in the picture."

"Okay," Elena got off the bed, "so operation 'fix Jeremy' needs to go into overdrive."

"Be gentle." I told her, "You've tried tough love, and it didn't work. Give kindness a try."

"Don't you think we _did?_ All summer we tried kindness, Danny! Nothing gets through to him!"

"Just let me have a try." I implored, "back off for a while."

"Its on your head." She frowned and left the room.

I sighed, reaching for my cigarettes. How did I always seem to piss her off? Nothing I ever said to Elena seemed to satisfy.

Remembering I was inside, I dashed across the room and flung open a window, breathing smoke out into the late afternoon air. I didn't need Elena mad at me for making the house stink of smoke, as well. She was bitter enough about my habit, always giving me articles on cancer rates and lung capacity. I supposed it was her way of caring. But the nicotine helped me think straight, and that was what I really needed at that moment. I needed to figure out how I was going to pull my brother back to the surface. Figure out if I even _could_.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

By four o'clock, the town square was buzzing with activity. Caroline was making a final sweep of the area as we passed through, handing out flyers. The face painter was setting up her sponges, the food stalls were heating up the oil and the telescopes were due to arrive at any moment, on loan from the Lockwood's. Once we had handed out the last of our flyers, Caroline gave a sigh of relief.

"That's it, everything is ready."

"You weren't even on the planning committee for this one." I pointed out, smiling.

"No, but the people who _were_ were complete idiots. Would you believe their big idea was to gather under the clock tower and sing the national anthem?" Caroline raised her eyebrows incredulously.

"Not everyone needs to go as overboard as you." I told her, folding my arms.

"And that is why most parties suck." She nodded, "Do you think Elena and Bonnie are done yet? Where are they?"

"Over there, by the Grill." I pointed. They were stood in the middle of the path talking, still clutching a handful of flyers each.

Caroline took a step towards them, but I grabbed her arm, pulling her back, "Leave it, Care. Elena's pretty bummed about the whole Stefan thing, and we've handed out more than enough flyers by now."

"Hey-" her attention was caught by something else, "Danny, look it's that guy from the Grill the other night."

I followed the direction of her gaze towards a guy stood on the other side of the street. He was staring intently at Caroline. I could get the obsession she'd had with him the past few days. He was _hot._ His eyes were a beautiful clear blue, and they were nicely offset by his shaggy dark hair falling around his face. There was something about him that seemed vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn't place him.

"Go say hi! And get his number this time." I commanded, giving her a nudge.

I watched as she began to cross the square towards him. Her shoulders were set in determination, and I knew most of her fixation on this guy was because she wanted to get over Stefan. After he shot her down, Caroline wanted a new guy as soon as possible. A van drove past, briefly separating Caroline and the mystery guy and when it went past, he was gone. I blinked, looking around, wondering if I had missed him. Where had he gone so quickly? Caroline had stopped as well, staring at the spot he had occupied in confusion.

"Where did he go?" I asked, hurrying over.

"I have no idea." Caroline frowned, confusion etched across her face.

We didn't see him again, though Caroline was certainly looking. Night fell quickly, and the square became so busy it was hard to move through the crowd.

"Lets get some candles and go find Elena and Bonnie," Caroline said as the comet slowly began to come into view.

The stall distributing them was near the Grill. Standing just under the sign was Vicki, hands in her pockets with a cigarette hanging from her lips.

"Grab me a candle." I said, "I need to talk to Vicki."

"To Vicki? Why?"

"About Jeremy." I answered, my feet already carrying me across the road.

I didn't particularly like having to do this. Vicki was Matt's sister, but she was nothing like him. She was selfish and rude and self-centered. She claimed to hate her mother and all she had done, but showed every sign of following in her footsteps. But if she could help Jeremy, I would worship the ground she walked on.

"Hey, Vicki." I called. She turned to look at me, her green eyes narrowing.

"Hey." She said cautiously, "Are you looking for Matt?"

"No. How are you? Feeling better?"

"I've got some pills." She shrugged.

"Right." I nodded awkwardly, "Look, I wanted to ask a favour."

"A favour?" she repeated disbelievingly, "After what your sister did to my brother?"

"What my _sister_ did. I've never done anything to Matt. And it's about Jeremy." I used my most persuasive voice.

"Jeremy? Why would I care?" she flicked her fingers and I watched the cigarette go flying through the air.

"Because you've been sleeping with him all summer?" I offered bluntly.

That got her attention. She turned to fully face me. "What has he told you?"

" _He_ didn't tell me anything. You've got to keep your voice down in public places if you don't want this entire town knowing your business."

She clenched her jaw and folded her arms, "What do you want?"

"I want Jeremy to go to school. And I want him to be sober while he's there."

She sighed, "I don't know what you think, but Jeremy does what he wants. I don't control him."

"No, but he listens to you. Wouldn't you have asked the same thing of Elena if it was Matt?"

She tilted her head back, regarding me silently. I could almost see the cogs turning behind her eyes.

"I'm in pretty bad pain." She said finally, "Maybe if it didn't hurt so much I would be able to help."

She wanted drugs. How typical.

"Okay, you want some pills. Will you talk to him?"

"When I have them." She insisted, "Your dad owned a clinic. You've got to have some oxy or something laying around."

"He had a _clinic_ not a pharmacy." I told her, "We didn't have drugs laying around."

"Figure something out. And I want enough to last."

"Fine." I exhaled sharply, "give me a few days."

I crossed the road back to the square, my eyes scanning the crowd for Elena, Caroline and Bonnie as I tried to figure out how in the hell I was going to get my hands on enough painkillers to convince Vicki to talk to Jer. I supposed it might be worth getting my hands on the key to the clinic to have a look around. I just had to figure out a plausible enough excuse for Jenna.

"What was that about?" Bonnie asked as I approached. From where they were standing, I realised they would have had a perfect view of mine and Vicki's exchange.

"She thinks Vicki will be able to convince Jeremy to stop skipping class." Elena said derisively.

"It's worth a shot, Elena!" I snapped, taking a candle from Caroline as we began to walk, "It's got more chance of helping him than making him feel like shit every five minutes!"

"Alright." Elena shrugged, "You're the oldest. Do what you want."

"Hey." Matt appeared from the sea of faces, offering his lit candle to Elena.

She smiled at him, holding her own out to light it, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." They both stood, staring at each other, and as I watched Matt's face I suddenly saw Vicki's point. Matt was still in love with Elena, and it was very clearly torturing him.

Suddenly Elena coughed awkwardly and lit my candle for me, breaking eye contact. I offered mine to Caroline and Bonnie.

"Ready to watch this stupid comet?" Tyler appeared, seating himself on a bench.

"Are you an asshole?" I asked drily, wrinkling my nose.

"Are you a bitch?" he shot back.

"Go fuck-"

"That's enough!" Bonnie interrupted, "Separate! Now!"

We went to stand at opposite ends of the bench.

"Hey Bon," I turned to her and put Tyler out of my mind, "When do you think we're all gonna turn into toads?"

" _Stop."_ She laughed, "I swear, I'm going to stop telling you things."

A group of kids ran past, waving sparklers.

"Where did they get those?" I raised my eyebrows, "How come we get candles? I want a sparkler!"

"The grownups get candles, Danny. The little kids get the sparklers." Caroline told me in mock condescension.

"Where'd Elena go?" Bonnie asked, looking around.

"Over there." Matt said bitterly, "With Stefan."

They were stood a few feet away, talking. Stefan was looking solemn while Elena was talking animatedly. I hoped she was dumping him. Well, I hoped she was doing whatever you did to dump someone you never actually dated.

Matt was staring longingly. I felt bad for him having to watch Elena move on while he was still stuck on her.

"Let's go inside, it's getting cold." Caroline suggested, shivering a little in her thin yellow dress.

We blew our candles out, depositing them in a nearby trash can. Elena caught up with us when we were halfway across the square to the Grill.

"You okay?" I asked, hanging back to walk with her.

"Yeah." She breathed, "I just made it clear that we talked, and it was great, but its not reality, you know? Things are complicated."

"Elena, he seems like a douche anyway." I told her, attempting to comfort.

"Danny, you don't know him. To most people, you look like a douche." She pointed out.

"Whatever." I shrugged, entering the Grill.

We had barely sat down at a table when Jeremy approached.

"Hey, has anyone seen Vicki?" he asked, worry lacing his tone.

"You're her stalker, you tell us." Tyler immediately baited, "She probably found someone else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, I guess you've been replaced."

I stared at him. Surely Jeremy couldn't be dealing? Where would he even get the drugs? Mystic Falls was hardly a ghetto and besides, everyone knew Jeremy. He couldn't deal if he tried.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena frowned.

"Ask him." Tyler couldn't look more smug if he tried.

"You want to do this right now?" Jeremy asked incredulously.

"Are you dealing?" Elena looked outraged.

"She's never going to go for you." Tyler half-smiled, doing his absolute best to enrage my brother. I opened my mouth to tell him to shut up, but Jeremy beat me to it.

"She already did. Over and over and over again."

"Okay, TMI! Isn't there a girl missing?" I knew they'd been hooking up, but somehow it seemed different to hear it from Jeremy than it did Caroline.

"And I didn't even have to force her into it!" Jeremy continued.

The atmosphere at the table turned icy cold as we all turned to look at Tyler. I knew Jeremy wouldn't just make an accusation like that out of nowhere.

"What the hell is he talking about, Ty?" Matt demanded.

"Nothing, man, just ignore him, he's a punk." Tyler said quickly.

"You know what? How about you all listen to Danny, shut up and help me find my sister?" Matt stood up.

"We'll check the back." Bonnie said at once, taking Caroline's arm.

"I'll check the square." Matt nodded.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy offered, but Elena grabbed hold of his shirt.

"Oh no, no, no. You are coming with us."

"Elena!" I hissed, "Remember what I said!"

"We tried it your way and it obviously isn't working!" She replied.

"Because you haven't given it a chance to!"

"So this is your game now, dealing?" Elena pushed Jeremy into an alcove.

"I'm not dealing!"

"Look, I'm sick of the tough love speech, Jer. It's clearly having no impact." Elena told him.

"You and Jenna, between the two of you, its enough- "

"We can stop if you want. Send you to a therapist." Elena threatened.

"Elena, come on. Drop it." I implored.

"Drop it?!" her voice was lowered to a harsh whisper, "Our brother is a drug dealer!"

"According to Tyler freaking Lockwood! If you'd believed half the things he said about me last year I'd be in a psych ward! Since when did we start believing him over Jeremy?"

"Exactly." Jeremy nodded, "Back off."

He didn't wait for her answer as he strode away.

"I can't believe you just did that." Elena stared at me, "You completely undermined me!"

"Elena you're not his parent!" I protested, "you're not even his guardian!"

"Well if I don't look out for him, who will? You seem to think encouraging him to spend more time with _Vicki Donovan_ is a good idea, and Jenna is up to her eyeballs in college work-"

"Stop." I sighed, "I'm tired of hearing you make excuses for yourself to boss everyone around."

I turned away, moving out back to find Bonnie and Caroline. They were just re-entering the building when I caught them.

"Not out here?" I inferred by the look on their faces.

"Nope." Bonnie shook her head, "We should go find Matt, see if he's had any luck."

"I don't know what all the fuss is about." Caroline sighed, threading her arm through mine, "It's _Vicki,_ she's probably getting high in an alley somewhere."

"Let's just find Matt." I pulled Caroline towards the door, Bonnie trailing behind us.

It was hard to even keep sight of Caroline in the throng, let alone find Matt. We were surrounded by people on all sides, and I took a moment to thank my lucky stars that I had never been claustrophobic.

We found Jeremy before we found Matt. Well, he found us. A hand grabbed at me from the crowd and Jeremy pushed past a group of teens.

"You find her?" he asked, raising his voice above the chatter of the crowd and the slow acoustics of the live band.

"No. Where's Matt?" I yelled back.

Jeremy led us to the far side of the square, where everything somehow seemed quieter. Matt was on his cell, pacing back and forth.

"…call me when you get this, Vick." He said quickly, hanging up as he spotted us, "Nothing?"

"Nothing." Bonnie told him apologetically.

"Hey-" Caroline interrupted, "Is that her? With Stefan?"

We followed her pointed finger to see two figures approaching. Vicki was walking slowly, half leaning on Stefan, her hand holding her neck and smeared with blood. Matt ran over, grabbing hold of Vicki.

"I'm alright, Matt," Vicki brushed off his steadying hands, "I just wanted some air, okay?"

"Let's get back to the Grill." I suggested, suddenly feeling exhausted, "I could do with a coffee or ten."

The Grill was warm and inviting, busier than usual now that the wind was picking up and all of the out-of-towners had gotten their fill of the comet. We found a booth near the back and slid onto the familiar leather seats, letting out drinks warm our hands.

"Well, at least that's over." Bonnie exhaled.

"Ugh, it's just so much drama." Caroline watched Matt carefully applying a new bandage on Vicki's wound across the room, "Ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?"

"Yeah." Bonnie bit her lip thoughtfully.

"Excuse me." Stefan Salvatore approached, "Hi. Um, have you guys seen Elena."

"Had a bitch fit and went home." I said bluntly, "Sorry."

Bonnie aimed a kick at my leg under the table, "I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and her email." She grabbed a napkin and began to scrawl over it in a purple sparkly gel pen she pulled from her bag, "She is big on texting, and you can tell her I said so."

"Thank you." Stefan gave a half smile, reaching for the napkin.

Bonnie's body went rigid as their fingers made contact. She gasped, pulling her fingers away and staring up at Stefan in horror.

"You okay?" he frowned.

"What happened to you?" Bonnie breathed. She blinked a few times and grabbed for her bag, "That's so rude, I'm sorry, excuse me."

She moved past him, and hurried out the door, her bag clenched between white-knuckled fingers.

"Yeah, she kind of wigs out." Caroline explained unsympathetically, "It's like her thing."

"Oh, um, alright. I better go, see you in school tomorrow?"

"Sure." I yawned, watching as he left. I looked at Caroline, "How come its always you and me who're the last to go home?"

"Because we are awesome, wild, party animals. What do you think was up with Bonnie?"

"I don't know." I finished my coffee and checked the time. It was nearly eleven, "I better get home. Do you need a ride?"

"It's alright." Caroline shrugged, "My cars parked around the block."

"Okay. Text me later."

"Of course." She smiled and winked.

I was lucky enough to have got here early which meant my car was parked just across the street. The drive home was brief on nearly empty roads. Elena's car was gone when I arrived, and inside the house was still.

"Anyone home?" I called, leaving my bag on the counter.

"Yep!" came Jenna's voice from upstairs.

She was sat in the hall, filling up a cardboard box from a pile of bongs, pipes, grinders and bags of marijuana.

"Found Jeremy's stash, huh?" I asked, leaning on the banister.

"This has got to end." Jenna told me, brushing hair away from her face, "Before someone calls CPS."

"If no one called while I was literally missing, no one's going to call now." I reassured her.

"Yeah, well Tanner might."

"I could run him over if you want?" I offered.

She leant back for a moment and grinned, "Oh, Danny. You know, I missed you. You're dysfunctional as hell, but you brighten the place up."

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes sarcastically, "Hey, do you think I could get into the clinic at some point? There's something I need for a project."

"I could look into it, yeah." Jenna nodded, "Your Uncle John is the trustee, but I'm pretty sure we can get you access."

"Great. Thanks, Jenna." I felt guilty for lying to her, especially when she was so eager to help, "Um, I'm going to get to bed. See you tomorrow."

"Night." She answered, packing the last of the paraphernalia into the box, "Though you might be woken by Jeremy when he gets home, later. I'm not looking forward for that storm to hit."

* * *

 **a/n: thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long to update, but i'm picking up this story for nanowrimo so you guys should hopefully have an update every day!**

 **Please favourite/follow if you liked this story 3**

 **I love reviews so please leave me some. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**

 **\- Rach**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Elena, that sauce came out of a jar and cost four dollars. Adding pepper and broccoli isn't going to make it gourmet." I said, watching her mix the sauce on the stove.

She was putting a ridiculous amount of effort into making dinner for Stefan, jabbering away about how much Bonnie and I would love him once we gave him a chance. I'd made the mistake of expressing my reservations towards him after his brutal rejection of Caroline, and Elena had immediately included me in her dinner plans. She'd tried three times to have me change out of my casual t-shirt and jeans, but I wasn't having it.

"It's got black truffles in it," she shrugged, "So it's kind of gourmet. Have you finished the salad?"

"The salad from a bag? That only needed to be put in a bowl?"

"Stop it." She clucked at me, taking the bowl away.

I checked my phone for the thousandth time that day, "Have either of you heard from Care?"

"Not since the last time you asked," Elena's eyes flicked to the clock, "Ten minutes ago. She was at cheer practice, she's fine."

"She's not answering me."

Caroline hadn't been at school that day, and I'd texted and called at least a hundred times, but she hadn't answered the phone. When I swung by her house, no-one had been home.

"She was with a guy. You know what Caroline's like; she'll get back to you soon. You want to hear something funny?" Bonnie asked, "Take your mind off it?" She too had been given a task and was dutifully grating cheese.

"Sure." I answered glumly.

"Alright, I know you guys aren't believers, but last night I was watching Nine-O, and a commercial break comes on." She explained, "I'm like 'I bet its that phone commercial', and sure enough, it's the guy and the girl with the bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back. They take a picture…" she trailed off, eyes darting between us as she tried to gauge our reaction.

"Oh, come on." Elena laughed, "That commercials on a constant loop."

"Fine. Well, how about this? Today I'm obsessed with numbers. Three numbers, I keep seeing eight, fourteen and twenty-two. How weird is that?"

"Maybe we should play the lottery." Elena deadpanned.

"Or see a psychiatrist." I chimed in.

"Have you spoken to your Grams?" Elena asked.

"She's just going to say its 'cause I'm a witch." She groaned, pouring the cheese into a serving bowl, "I don't want to be a witch, do you want to be a witch?"

"I don't want to be a witch." Elena said quickly.

"And Danny's right, putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody." Bonnie sighed.

Elena nudged her, "Alright, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons…?"

"You've lived here your whole life and you don't know where we keep the serving spoons? They're – "

"In the middle drawer on your left." Bonnie interrupted me.

Elena met her eyes and slowly reached to her left and opened the drawer, pulling out the fancy polished wood spoons our mom had owned forever.

Bonnie raised her brows meaningfully, eyeing us for a moment.

"So, you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times," Elena said after hesitating a moment.

"Right." I agreed with Elena.

"Yeah, that's it." Bonnie pursed her lips.

The doorbell rang, breaking through the tension.

"Ok," Elena sighed heavily, "He's here. Don't be nervous, just be your normal, loving selves."

Bonnie stared at her, holding a spoon in front of her as if it were a shield. Elena went to open the door, her shoes clicking on the wooden floors.

"You can't be a witch." I tried to reassure Bonnie, "Witches don't exist."

"I know." Her dark eyes were wide with anxiety, "That's what I'm worried about. 'Cause if I'm not a witch, I think I'm going crazy, Danny."

I felt bad for her – she seemed really creeped out by what was going on, and Bonnie wasn't easily shaken.

"Stefan's here!" Elena beamed, re-entering the kitchen. I gave Bonnie's hand a quick squeeze.

"It'll be okay," I murmured, turning to face my sister.

Elena directed Stefan into the living room and quickly waved me over. I suddenly got the feeling that the main reason she'd forced me into this was to fill the awkward silences – after all, I had a habit of talking the ear off anyone who would listen.

"Hey, Stefan." I gave him my friendliest smile and plopped down in the armchair.

"Hey. You know, I didn't realise you and Elena are sisters." He answered, smiling back.

No one new to town ever did. We were like chalk and cheese in looks as well as personality – my hair was nearly black, hers was a warm shade of caramel. My eyes were grey, like chips of ice and hers were wide and brown like Jeremy's. I was short while she had the athletic and long-limbed body of a cheerleader.

"That's understandable, I make an effort not to be seen with her." I winked, "We're twins, actually. I'm twelve and a half minutes older. You have a brother, right?"

"Damon," he nodded grimly, "Uh, we don't really get along. Long story."

"Right," I nodded, trying to think of something to say to him that Elena would approve of. "So, what age would be ideal for you to die at?"

"Okay, dinner's ready!" Elena quickly dashed out of the kitchen, "Come on, Stefan, you can sit with me." She gripped his arms and pulled him towards the dining table, looking behind her to mouth at me ' _what the hell?_ '.

I shrugged, raising my eyebrows and went to sit next to Bonnie. Elena had laid out the food in mom's fancy dishes. It was odd seeing them out on the table.

"Wow," Stefan remarked politely, "This looks amazing. Did you cook it yourself?"

"Um, yeah," Elena smiled, "Though we had some help from Trader Joe."

Stefan chuckled at the joke. Bonnie was looking as if the ground would open up and swallow her and practically buried her face in her food as soon as it was served.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan gave her a warm smile.

"You guys should have seen Stefan today." Elena smiled eagerly, "Tyler – "

"Ugh." I groaned loudly.

"Sorry, Danny. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named threw a ball right at Stefan and- "

"Yeah, I heard," Bonnie nodded dismissively, "I told Danny about it earlier."

Wow, she really didn't like Stefan. I wondered what he had done to piss her off.

"Do you, uh, not like Tyler, Danny?" Stefan asked.

"Please don't use that name in this house."

Shortly after the break-up, I had outlawed _that_ name in the house. I had to put up with him everywhere else, the house was my safe space – though these days it was more of a running joke.

"They dated," Elena explained, "Now it's awkward. She and Caroline egged his house."

"Um, let's not pin the blame here, Elena. Who gave us the rotten eggs?"

"Hey, I gave you some trash. What you did with it was out of my hands." Elena grinned for a moment, her old self creeping through. But then, it was gone. "Anyway, Stefan didn't come to hear us bicker."

"I don't mind at all." He told her, "and I'm sure you-know-who deserved it." He sent me a quick wink.

I couldn't help but smile back at him, a real smile this time. Stefan wasn't as uptight as he seemed.

"Bonnie, why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena suggested.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie nodded uncomfortably.

"No, about the witches." Elena encouraged. She turned to Stefan, "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches, it's really cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use." Bonnie murmured.

"Well it's certainly interesting," Stefan said earnestly, "I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the eighteen hundreds."

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie told him, fiddling with her fork.

"Really?" Stefan leant forward, "Salem witches?"

Bonnie bobbed her head with a pained smile, "Yeah."

"I'd say that's pretty cool." He told her solemnly.

"Really? Why?" Bonnie asked, a little more at ease. Elena beamed, thrilled that she was starting to open up.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and non-conformity." He stated.

"Yeah," Bonnie was trying to restrain her grin and failing, "They are."

Elena looked as if she was about to pass out with joy. She loved it when her little schemes actually worked. Before anything else could be said, the doorbell rang again. Elena frowned.

"Who could that be?" she wondered aloud, putting her fork down.

"I'll get it." I offered, getting to my feet.

Caroline had a foot in the door before I had even fully opened it.

"Surprise!" she said brightly, clutching a large red velvet cake, "Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought desert."

I stared at her.

"Hope you don't mind." The guy from the Grill was stood behind her. I hadn't even noticed him, but now he was smirking at me with an… unnerving look in his eyes.

"Care," I frowned, confused, "Where have you been all day?"

"Oh, you know, here and there." She shrugged, strolling past me and shoving the cake at Elena, who'd followed me into the hall.

The guy stood at the threshold, appraising me carefully with pale blue eyes.

"I'm Damon." He smiled, his eyes narrow, "Stefan's brother. Can I come in?"

"What are you doing here?" Stefan demanded appearing next to me. I remembered what he'd said about not getting on with his brother. It was a weird coincidence that he was Caroline's new arm candy.

"Waiting to be invited in." he fluttered his eyelashes the same way Elena used to when we were children and she was after something.

"Um, I guess-" I began, but Stefan cut me off.

"No, no – he can't, uh… he can't stay." Stefan looked rapidly between me and his brother, "Can you, Damon?"

Damon didn't answer. Caroline let out a confused chuckle, "Get in here."

"We're just finishing up." Stefan was looking at Elena now.

"It's fine." She smiled, shrugging, "Just come on in."

Damon's smirk got even wider and he carefully crossed the threshold, brushing past Stefan in a fluid motion that I was sure was intentional. Elena and Stefan were having a silent conversation consisting of frowns, shrugs and head tilts so I pulled the door shut and went to follow Damon into the living room.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," Damon stopped me.

"Um, Danny." I answered. Something about his look made my skin crawl.

"Ah, the famous Danny. Caroline's told me so much about you. You have a beautiful home."

"Thanks." I said shortly.

"Um, would you like to come to the living room?" Elena asked, coming to stand behind me. I took the opportunity to move away from Damon, into the kitchen where Caroline was clattering about, pulling out plates.

"How are you feeling, Care?" I asked carefully.

"What? Fine, Danny." she stared at me like I was crazy.

"You didn't come to school? Or answer my texts?" I frowned, "I've been worried."

"Well, don't be." Care shrugged, eyeing Damon, "I was busy."

It was clear I wasn't getting anything else out of her. I sighed, going to help Bonnie clear the table.

"What was that about?" She murmured to me.

"Stefan and Damon don't get along," I whispered back, grabbing the half-empty pasta dish. I quickly transferred it into tupperware and left it to cool on the counter, ready to be put in the fridge.

Caroline started handing out plates of cake. I watched her carefully. She'd done her hair and make-up and was wearing a nice blue dress. She'd even accessorised with a scarf and earrings. She clearly wasn't sick, so why had she been missing from school? I didn't understand what was going on and was even more confused that she wasn't talking to me.

I picked at a piece of cake sullenly, going to sit next to Bonnie.

"I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team!" Caroline sat herself on the couch and beamed at Stefan, "Oh, you-know-who must be _seething!_ "

"You-know-who?" Damon questioned.

"Danny's ex-boyfriend." Elena explained, "We don't say his name in the house."

"But good for you, Stefan. Go for it!" Caroline smiled.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to _engage._ You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it!" Damon sounded serious, but I was well enough versed in the arts of sarcasm to recognise the underlying bite to his words.

I had a bad feeling about Damon Salvatore. I didn't like Caroline's elusiveness about him, or his manner. He never seemed to smile, only smirk. And every word he said sounded fake.

"Elena wasn't so lucky today, Stefan." Caroline announced, breaking the tense air, "Don't worry – it's only because you missed summer camp. God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines…" she trailed off with a sad sigh.

"I'll work with her," Bonnie defended Elena, "She'll get it."

"I guess we can put her in the back…" Caroline thought aloud.

"You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon tilted his head at her.

"Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase," Caroline waved her arms as she spoke, "She used to be _way_ more fun- "

" _Caroline._ " I interrupted, sending her a look.

"And I say that with complete sensitivity," she quickly finished.

"I'm sorry, Elena, Danny. I know what it's like to lose both your parents." Damon told us, eyes wide, "In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we ever cared about die."

I nearly choked on my cake at the casual way he dropped that into the conversation.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan glowered at his brother. Since Damon's arrival his demeanour had completely changed.

"Ah, you know what, you're right, Stef, I'm sorry." Damon nearly sounded genuine, "The last thing I wanted to do was bring _her_ up."

I got up again, "I'm going to start the dishes." I announced, no longer wanting to watch Damon try to make Stefan uncomfortable.

I moved away, beginning to rinse the dinner plates and place them in the dishwasher. I was about half-way through when Damon approached, bearing a neat stack of plates.

"You know, I just _love_ how much you care for Caroline." He told me, handing over the plates, "And I can see why you might be concerned. But I promise you, I care deeply for Caroline and don't want her to remember any pain from our time together, however long that may be."

I stared at him, wondering at the weird wording. He attempted a smile and patted my shoulder.

I lurched away, half-climbing onto the kitchen counter as if he were a cockroach I had spotted. From the second he touched the bare skin of my shoulder, something unlike anything I'd ever felt had shot down my arm like lightening. Hollow, empty, _nothingness,_ but also pain beyond measure.

"Danny?" Surprisingly, Stefan was the first one to rush over, "What happened? Did he do anything to you?" he questioned in a low voice.

"N-no." I breathed, trying to think of a way to explain what I'd felt and coming up short.

"Danny why don't you go up to bed?" Elena put a comforting arm round me, "You're obviously tired. We'll finish the dishes."

"Alright." I said shakily, "Um, goodnight."

I dashed up the stairs and into my room, practically slamming the door behind me. I couldn't explain what I had felt. If pure horror was a sensation, that was it. I could still feel Damon Salvatore's hand on my shoulder, as though the print was burned into my flesh. I couldn't seem to wipe the feeling from my mind.

I got into the shower, scrubbing at my shoulder and the water soothed a little. I could hear everyone talking downstairs and wanted desperately to go down and talk to Care but the thought of being in the same room as Damon made my stomach tie itself in knots. I hated even being in the same _house –_ it was like I could _feel_ his presence through the floor. Worse than anything I had ever felt towards Tyler. Every nerve in my body was screaming 'DANGER'.

There was something wrong about him. I wasn't the type of person to immediately hate someone – I liked making friends with people, and if anything, most of the time it took me too long to learn to dislike someone.

My cigarettes were calling me from my bedside table, and I went to sit with them by my window. The cool autumn air felt cold against my damp hair and skin, but I didn't mind. The street below was largely empty – at half past eight, most of Mystic Falls was settled at home.

Down below, the front door opened, spilling amber light across the neatly trimmed grass of the front yard.

"Thank you for having us, Elena." Damon purred, his voice floating up to my window, "I hope Danny feels better soon – give her my best?"

I recoiled, waiting for him and Caroline to emerge from under the porch.

"Come on, Damon," Caroline sounded impatient, "My mom'll be home soon."

"Um, it was really nice meeting you, Damon. Bye, Care." Elena's voice dripped with strained politeness.

Caroline and Damon appeared, making their way down the path. Elena closed the door, and the yard was dark and shadowy again. At the end of the path, Damon turned and looked right at me, raising a hand in a wave as he smirked.

I flicked my cigarette out the window and slammed it closed. He was still looking as I tugged the curtains shut.

It wasn't long before there was a gentle tap on my door and Bonnie poked her head in.

"Hey," she smiled, "I'm heading out, thought I'd say bye."

"See you later." I said, giving her a hug.

"You okay?" she pulled back, looking at me searchingly, "You were kind of freaked out earlier."

"Yeah," I smiled, trying to shrug it off, "I just felt weird when Damon touched my shoulder."

"Weird? Weird how?" Bonnie peered at me intently.

"I don't know. Just _bad_ weird. Like – like- "

"Like death." She finished for me very quietly.

I pressed my lips together, nodding.

"I need to talk to my Grams." She told me, giving me another quick squeeze, "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She didn't wait for my answer, rushing out of the room. Whatever I had felt, it was clear that Bonnie had, too – was that why she hadn't liked Stefan? I crawled into bed, exhausted.

* * *

"I think I'm going to quit the cheer team." Elena sighed, flopping down on my bed.

"Caroline's going to kill you." I told her without looking up from my piano. I had worried that I would be out of practice, but my fingers floated over the keys as if they had never been away.

"You think?" Elena asked nervously.

"And on Kick-off day, too," I sighed, "I hope you've made your peace with the world."

She threw a pillow at me, "Stop being over-dramatic. She'll just take Jess out of reserve, right? I mean, she spent all night telling me how bad I am."

I finished the song, and stretched out my aching fingers, turning on the stool to face Elena. Caroline was a planner. If Elena quit, Care would have a back-up in the reserves, and most likely a back-up for the back-up.

"I'm just teasing you. She'll get over it." I reassured her.

"Are you ready to leave?" Elena asked, "I think it's probably best if I just bite the bullet."

"Sure," I got to my feet.

We locked up behind us – Jeremy had already left, and Jenna had been staying at campus for the past few days, though she was back tonight.

Half the town had already turned out by the time we arrived. Elena left me with Bonnie to go hand her cheerleading resignation in to Caroline. As soon as Elena was gone, I turned to her.

"Did you talk to your Grams?"

She nodded and sighed tiredly, "Take a guess at what she said."

"'Cause you're a witch?"

"You got it. It doesn't explain why you felt it, too, though." She rubbed at her temples tiredly, "Nothing explains any of this."

"Still seeing those numbers?" I deduced.

"Everywhere. Eight, fourteen and twenty-two." Her eyes widened suddenly, and she pointed to a group of football players, "Look!"

I turned. Emblazoned on the back of their jerseys were the numbers eight, one and four – and then on a marker right beside them was twenty-two. A coincidence? If it was, it was a freaky one.

"Do you believe me now?" Bonnie asked desperately, "It's like they're trying to tell me something."

Slowly, I nodded. Everyone knew Bonnie's Grams was a witch – but the kooky kind who lit candles and mixed herbs, not the real, magic-wielding kind.

"Well, we're a cheerleader down!" Caroline appeared, making us jump, "Elena quit! I'll have to run Jess through the routines, can you believe this? _Ugh!_ How could she do this to me? On kick-off day? Thank God Jess had the extra practice over summer- "

"Care, breathe!" I commanded, "Oh, hey, this is cute."

I reached out to touch the scarlet ribbon she'd tied round her throat.

"Hands off!" she slapped my hand away, "Go find Elena, Danny, I need Bonnie to help me. It's nearly sundown, they're already lighting the bonfires."

She tugged Bonnie away into the crowd. I couldn't understand what was going on – Elena had suggested that she just wanted some space, but Caroline didn't _do_ space. When I was six, I had chickenpox, and she had visited every day until she caught it as well. Through the worst hangovers, stomach flus and even a case of pneumonia, Caroline had never felt the need for space. Before I left town, we hadn't spent a day apart since infancy, and I had no doubt that if I had told her of my plans that night, if I had swung by her house on my way out she would have come with me.

But now – ever since she had met _Damon_ – she barely looked at me.

The marching band started somewhere in the crowd, playing a deafening tune. I was on my tiptoes, looking for my sister, but it was my brother I spotted first. Leaning against a car, grinning sloppily as he topped up his friend's cups from a large, glass bottle.

" _Really?_ " I marched over, raising a brow, "Not even a paper bag? Couldn't pour it into a water bottle?"

He shrugged carelessly, clearly already drunk. I caught a glimpse of Elena in the mob.

"Come with me!" I pulled him behind the car. Night had fallen quickly, and we were well concealed until Elena disappeared.

The crowd began to cheer, and Coach Tanner's electronically enhanced voice reverberated over the field. The usual speech – we were _Timberwolves,_ were we going to let people come into _our_ town and beat us?

"Danny, what the hell?" Jeremy slurred, pulling away.

He wasn't just drunk – he was _sloppy_ drunk. He'd left the house way before Elena and me, and the bottle he was clutching was less than a quarter full.

"Jer, how much have you had to drink? Do you _want_ to be suspended? This isn't a party, it's a _school event!"_

"What are you, Elena?" he glared, stomping back round the car to his friends.

I trailed after him anxiously. He took a seat on an upturned crate, frowning moodily across the field. I faltered, unsure what to do – a stream of worries ran through my head – how would he get home? What if he got hurt? What if someone realised what he was up to? What if – god forbid – Elena found him?

But before I could figure out what to do, Tyler appeared. I knew him well enough to know he was already wound up about something. His fists and jaw were clenched, and his eyes were fixed on Jeremy.

Jeremy got to his feet to meet him, eyeing Vicki, who was buzzing around Tyler like a fly, flapping her hands anxiously.

"Leave it, Ty, come on-" she begged as he came to a stop right in front of my brother.

"Don't look so down." Tyler spat, "You can have her when I'm done."

"Jeremy, ignore-" I started, but it was too late.

He didn't hesitate, lurching for Tyler. There was the sound of smashing glass as he dropped the bottle and swung at him. The blow hit Tyler directly in the jaw, staggering him. Vicki began to scream, shouting for them to stop.

Tyler was back up almost immediately, and shoved Jeremy against the car, kneeing him in the stomach – Jeremy grunted in pain and I panicked, hurling myself at them.

"That's enough, get off of him!" I shrieked, hands scrabbling at Tyler's jersey and then for Jeremy's hoodie, trying to pull him towards me as if my small frame could do anything to protect my hulking, six-foot brother.

Tyler batted me away with one hand, using the other to throw Jeremy to the ground.

" _Tyler!"_ my voice had risen to a terrified screech, "Stop, stop it!"

I found myself flinching every time Tyler's fists made contact with Jeremy's face. Nothing I did seemed to have any kind of effect on either of them – as if Tyler and Jeremy were in their own, violent little bubble.

Jeremy managed to gain the upper hand for a moment, pummelling at Tyler. I darted forward – "Stop!"

But neither of them listened, and in an instant Jeremy was back on the floor. I saw a flash of red as blood splattered across the grass.

"Hey, he's down!" Stefan appeared out of nowhere, "Enough!"

He took hold of Tyler, pulling him away, though Tyler was still struggling to get at Jeremy. When that failed, he turned on Stefan, landing a solid hit on his stomach – but Stefan didn't even flinch. He was lucky - Tyler must have hit his chest piece.

I turned away from them, to Jeremy. Relief flooded through me when I saw he was already back on his feet – clearly, he wasn't too badly hurt. However, my relief turned sour when I saw the look on his face – and the flash of glass in his hand.

"No, Jeremy, don't-" I grabbed for him, slowing him down but he was determined. He slashed with the glass just as Stefan punched Tyler out the way. The glass sliced Stefan's palm open.

"Tyler, knock it off!" Matt emerged from the crowd that had formed to watch the fight, diving at Tyler and tugging him away.

"Put that down!" I snatched the glass away from Jeremy, realising it was the broken bottle top, "What were you _thinking?_ Are you okay?"

"What the hell, Jeremy?!" Elena was breathless when she got to us, bundling our brother towards the car where his friends still sat, drinking, "Put your head up, you're bleeding!"

"I'm fine!" he shoved her concerned hands away.

"Yeah, you s _mell_ fine!"

"Just stop, okay?" he snapped, storming away to the edge of the pitch.

"Are you alright?" Elena turned to me.

"Yeah." My breathing was laboured, "Look, I'm going to take him home, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, digging in her pockets, "Here, take my car – I'll get a ride home with Bonnie."

I took the keys as she turned away, eyes on Stefan. I dashed after Jeremy, practically running to catch up.

"Jer!" I called.

He stopped with a visible sigh, waiting for me to catch up.

"Come on," I puffed, "Let's go home, get you sobered up and clean before Jenna gets home. It'll save you a fight."

He didn't argue, though he was still simmering with anger. I was beginning to see Elena's side of the whole thing. It was senseless, unexplained behaviour. Tyler had been away from him when Jeremy went at him with the glass – what was he trying to do? Kill him?

I was starting to think maybe therapy would do Jeremy some good. To talk to someone about what was going on in his head. He was clearly still struggling with our parent's deaths – and who could blame him? It had been barely four months.

Jeremy got up and out the car as soon as I pulled to a stop, stomping into the house and slamming the door behind him. I stared after him, drenched in worry.

 **A/N: So, one good thing about this whole self-isolation thing is I finally have the time to carry on this fic! Lets see how many chapters I can churn out before things (hopefully) go back to normal. Hope everyone is being safe and is feeling well! I would love if you could leave me some reviews and tell me how you like the new chapter six – I also made some small adjustments in previous chapters, so if you want to have a skim over those, it might be a good idea! x**


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